Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The Two Americas

Whatever you may think about John Edwards he was right about there being two Americas.  Maybe there are a lot more?  I watched the "Tea Party" debate last night and it was an eye opening experience.
"Selfish" is the word that comes to mind.  Divisive is another but mostly destructive.  They are mad, quite clearly, and want to tear everything down.  Put us back into that Old West mentality of every man for himself.  I have never seen such hatred, such disdain for Obamacare nor such denial of the issues that created the situation that we are in.
   There are Historical Reasons for Government regulation in private business.  Government (think tax dollars) has helped private enterprise for hundreds of years, since the Mayflower, since the railroads and the Erie Canal.  We would still have children chained to machines and working in sweat shops if it weren't for government intervention.  It is the government that has been given the task to insure clean drinking water and the air we breathe.  The government who is in charge of our transportation systems, bridges and roads and interstate commerce.
   Get rid of government regulations and all of a sudden everything will be better?  Yeah, sure.  History doesn't say that.  We will have the water of Mexico and the air of China and the garbage pits of Russia.
How any one could even think this is beyond me.  Two Americas.
   Privatize Social Security?  Yeah, they want this all right.  It is our last bank account, the only money that remains.  In the private business world 401's and other private savings have been cut in half already, the equity in our houses stripped to nothing.  The only reason that there is anything in this Social Security fund is that by law the private business world has no access to it.  It cannot be put into the stock market or used to buy junk bonds.  But they want it.
   It was interesting when asked to say something good about another candidate how they stammered, afraid to say something positive about their own competition.  This is the new gladiator sport, any weakness will be pounced upon.
   My biggest fear was the audience, their applause, their hatred, their self-righteousness, their willingness to throw the weak to the lions, their eagerness to place blame.  Their willingness to destroy what we have worked so very hard to get.
   Yes, we have met the enemy and he is us.  It is going to be a dark and stormy winter, I know.

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4 comments:

T. said...

What is going on is truly scary. Scary that we barely made it through the last bout and here we are again. It's obvious these people are out for themselves and who ever is paying them the most money but the part that is so hard to understand is how anyone can believe what they are saying is for the betterment of the country. How do people forget so quickly? How are they not aware of who these people are and their past let alone what's happened in our own past because of people like this? How do they not see where these so called potential leaders want to take us?

Timaree said...

I have to agree with you. Selfishness is the root of the problem here. The idea of scarcity, that there isn't enough for everyone. We have plenty so that everyone in the U.S. can be taken care of and the rich or upper middle class don't have to lose their status doing it. You've pretty much said it all here.

Jerry Carlin said...

A lot of it is politics at any price. They will take us to the edge rather than compromise. A compromise could be seen as a win for Obama and they are willing to bring us all down before they will see that happen.

Autumn Leaves said...

I just find your words frightening, Jerry. Sometimes I just want to pull my covers over my head. Today is such a day.